Lexical strategies

Conclusions

In this term paper we have looked the implications of findings for the teaching of vocabulary:

• 
  Learners need tasks and strategies to help them organize their mental lexicon by building networks of associations – the more the better;
  
• 
  Teachers need to accept that the learning of new words involves a period of “initial fuzziness”;
  
• 
  Learners need to wean themselves off a reliance on direct translation from their mother tongue;
  
• 
  Words need to be presented in their typical contexts so that learners can get a feel for their meaning, their register, their collocations and their syntactic environment;
  
• 
  Teaching should direct attention to the sound of new words, particularly the way they are stressed.
  

In this work we have looked the ways the teacher can make the presentation of vocabulary maximally effective, both in terms of word form and word meaning. Some of the conclusions reached include the following:

• 
  establishing the meaning of a new word first and when presenting its form is a standard approach;
  
• 
  translation is an economical way of presenting meaning but may not be the most memorable;
  
• 
  illustrating meaning is effective but is limited to certain kinds of words;
  
• 
  explaining meaning verbally is time-consuming but can be effective if explanations are kept clear and simple;
  
• 
  the spoken form can be highlighted through the giving of clear models, the use of phonemic script, and repetition;
  
• 
  the written form should not be withheld too long;
  
• 
  learners should be actively involved in the presentation.
  

Bibliography

1. 
   A.S.Hornby. Oxford Student's dictionary of current English. Oxford. oxford University press, 1984. – 770 p.
   
2. 
   Методика викладання іноземних мов в середніх навчальних закладах. Підручник для студентів вищих закладів освіти. – К. Лен світ, 2002. – 328 с.
   
3. 
   Scott Thornbury. How to teach vocabulary. – Longman. 2002. – 185 p.